co-creation in public services for innovation&social justice: concrete elasticity!

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This book examines the idea and practice of co-creation in public services. Informed by practical action, lived experience and research from 10 countries across Europe, including the UK, it shines new light on the theory and reality of co-creation by conceptualising it in terms of human rights, social justice and social innovation.

Focusing on human dimensions, the book presents real life examples in public services as diverse as social care, health, work activation, housing and criminal justice. It also highlights the ways digital technologies can accelerate or hinder co-creation.

The book confronts a paradox at the heart of co-creation: standardisation and inflexibility in planning and resourcing, or ’concrete-ness’, counters the ’elasticity’ required to sustain co-creation in complex contexts.

Susan Baines is Professor of Social Enterprise at Manchester Metropolitan University. Rob Wilson is Professor of Digital Economy in the Faculty of Business and Law, Northumbria University. Chris Fox is Professor of Evaluation and Policy Analysis at Manchester Metropolitan University. Inga Narbutaité Aflaki is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Karlstad University. Andrea Bassi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Bologna. Heli Aramo-Immonen is Principal Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Business at Turku University of Applied Sciences. Riccardo Prandini is Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at University of Bologna.